| This year the
hospital has been receiving an increasing number of foreigners who have
come to study traditional Chinese medicine (TCM).
It offers courses in both Chinese medical massage
and TCM theory, and has accepted 25 foreigners in the past four months,
who have come specifically to study in the hospital, according to Yang
Yang, its publicity manager.
The figure is much greater than the same period last
year.
The hospital had 40 students from Asian and Western
countries last year, most of whom came between June and September. They
came for a range of courses including Chinese medical massage, bone
setting, acupuncture and TCM theory.
The increase seems to be the result of an increasing
popularity of TCM in foreign countries.
"I feel that Eastern and Chinese medicine is
becoming more accepted, since people are beginning to see that it is
effective," said Kerrie McMillen, an American masseur with six years
of experience doing Swedish-style massage.
"I want to learn massage methods that are more
beneficial to the patients than the methods I am using now," she
said. "Chinese massage is all about balance, and I think Western
medicine is more open now."
McMillen is here on a one week study stay (with
ChinaStudies) that she started last Friday together with another nine
people from the United States. She is quite satisfied with the classes.
"It's new to me, so I'm struggling to
understand. But our teacher is very good at explaining the theory,"
she said.
She plans to use what she learns here to help
improve her patient diagnosis skills, since some patients do not know to
tell their masseur about their problems in a clear enough way.
The Beijing Massage Hospital was founded in 1958 and
is one of Beijing's major massage centers. |
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